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A US senator has taken the bold step of asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to lay off Intel. Senator Orrin Hatch, the republican representative of the state of Utah, formerly the home of both WordPerfect and Novell, has instead advised the FTC to take a further look at Microsoft. Hatch was responding to an impassioned speech from another republican, Haley Barbour, who said that Microsoft should not receive as much investigation as it currently is. Barbour claimed that Microsoft was pursuing free market principles and if it was brought to its knees by a federal body, that would badly affect the United States. Hatch took a different view and stoutly maintained that alleged monopolies were not only bad for the US, but for the rest of the free world too. He said: “While it may be likely, and even, to a degree, useful, to have a particular firm dominate at any point in time, it is dangerous, unhealthy, and harmful to innovation and consumer welfare.” He claimed that Microsoft could use its monopolistic situation to stop others from competing against it. Intel, on the other hand, did not have that point of view, continued Hatch. ®